A Guide on How to Write AceOC Romance
by Izout
Summary: All you need to know for creating a love story with Castle Rock's resident cheap dime store hood.


Disclaimer: Not mines, don't sue.

A/N: Just an idea that's been kicking around in a head for a while. Consider it an unofficial companion piece to CherryCokesandWinterSmokes's How To: ChrisOC Love Story because let's face it, outside of Chris/OC, Ace/OC is the second most popular and common pairing. Not that I haven't read some good ones, but you know what I mean, right?

Is this a lighthearted parody? A vicious mockery? Well-intentioned advice? Or simply venting? I leave it to you.

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"**Draco In Leather Pants**: When a fandom takes a controversial, antagonistic or downright villainous character and downplays his flaws, often turning him into an object of desire in the process." - _TV Tropes_

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It is natural that once a book, TV show, video game, or movie starts to become popular, fanfiction will be written about it in a matter of minutes by the fandom. One of the most popular genres of fanfiction is Romance, especially combined with either Angst or Drama. However, since the movie _Stand By Me_ didn't feature any female characters outside of Dorothy Lachance, Tupper Babe, and those girls in Gordie Lachance's Lardass story, many a-writers take it upon themselves to create their own female characters. These female characters are usually called OC (Original Character) though they sometimes get interchange with Mary Sue.

There are also those, upon watching the movie _Stand By Me_, that were drawn to the character of Ace Merrill and wonder what it would be like if he had a girlfriend. If you wish to write a _Stand By Me_ fanfic where your OC has a torrid love affair with Kiefer Suth—I mean Ace Merrill, follow these guidelines to make it the best romance you can!

**Step 1 – Choosing your character**

Ace OCs tend to come in two varieties: New Kid or Best Friend.

**New Kid **– The New Kid a girl who moves to Castle Rock because she's generally a city girl moving to a small town/a girl who moves around a lot/a girl's first move to another town/a girl staying with some family in Castle Rock for the summer/a girl being sent to live with some family in Castle Rock. This girl will always move from somewhere that could be considered interesting. These places can range from France and England to Kenya and New Zealand. Sometimes the author even has her character move from New York or Los Angeles and expects the readers to think that it's exotic.

**Best Friend** – The only female member of the Cobras (Pffft! *Snickers* As if girls ran around joining gangs in the '50s). She and Ace will have been best friends since they were young-ins, but never realize there was so much UST between them until now. Occasionally the only person Ace is lenient too. The least offensive and least violent of the Cobras. May or may not be friends, or at least be on friendly terms, with the boys (No, Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern, not the other Cobras).

Other options are she is the sister of one of the other Cobras, or she's the girlfriend of the recently deceased Denny Lachance.

For the purpose of this guide, we will be using **New Kid**.

**Step 2 – Choosing your setting**

We say choosing because it is important to know where the placement of your fic should occur in canon. Most writers tend to place their fic after the film so they don't have to worry about that whole 'Ray Brower' thing getting in the way of their story. Others place it during the movie and treat their character as those she had always been there. Then you have those that keep it vague as hell as to where their fic suppose to take place.

We will be going with the last option.

**Step 3 – Meeting the Cobras**

Now that you've got your character establish (Don't worry about things like backstory, because Ace OCs can some of the rare few who _don't_ have a truly awful past), it's time to have her meet the town's local hoods. These places can be either Irby's Billiards or the Blue Point Diner. We will be using the Blue Point (Hey, has anyone ever notice that despite being called the _Blue_ Point Diner, Tubber Babe was wearing a **yellow** uniform?). Make sure she is terrified, yet intrigued by him:

Frances Harrison had just finished the rest of her unpacking and was now ready to explore this town in Oregon called Castle Rock. She and her family had moved from Panama City looking for a new opportunity in life and felt Castle Rock just might be what they need. Frances decided she needed a little air after the trip as well as the unpacking and went for a stroll around the small town.

She had just reached the middle of downtown when she felt her stomach rumble and saw across from her an eatery called the Blue Point Diner. She went inside and was seated by one of the waitresses.

"Hey, welcome to the Blue Point Diner. How can I help you?"

"Uh yes…" Frances trailed off she read over the menu, "I'll… take…. a slice of apple pie and a cup of tea."

"Very well, your order will be ready in a couple of minutes." The waitress told as she finish writing it down in her note pad and grab the menu from Frances. Frances nodded as she sat back in her booth and looked around. The place was rather quaint and she thought maybe this town might not be that be that bad.

Suddenly, she heard the bell from the front door ring and saw seven young men, a few ranging in various levels of attractiveness, come in and take their seats. One of them caught her eye in particular.

He strutted into the diner, his blond hair… was it bleached, was it platinum, or was it strawberry?... shining in the fluorescent lighting. Every aspect of him emphasizing his assets and demanding instant satisf... I mean, respect. He stood, his posture giving off the impression that he owned the place. His eyebrows arched, that most would call conceited. A smirk placed on his lips, that others would call arrogant. A muscular body, fitted through tight wearing clothes, and jeans that showed muscular legs. She stared at him ardently, and consistently, even as the waitress gave her her order and other people were talking to her, to make sure he could not mistake her intentions.

Her efforts were awarded and the young man caught her eye and made his way over, sitting right next to her.

He smirked, "You new in town? I don't think we've met?"

"N-No!" She spat out, "I don't think we've had. I'm Frances."

"Ace." He simply said. He looked down at her pie (Get your heads out of the gutter people) and grabbed the fork, taking half of it and eating it.

"Hey that's my pie. Give it." She said, yanking the fork from her fingers. The diner went silent. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on the floor.

Ace stared at her in shock. "Nobody ever talks to me that way…" he finally said, his voice a dangerous whisper. Then he smiled. "I like it. How 'bout you and me go out on a date?"

She looked slightly baffled. "W-What?"

"I'll pick you up at 7 on Friday, okay? Oh, and make sure you wear something that will be easy to slip out of, because I got a feeling you won't be needing to wear anything fancy for this." He told her with a wink, then motion for the others to follow him out of diner, none of them paying for their meals. One of them even complained about not being able to finish their burger.

The date happen and both had a good time. Eventually that one date became two and that second date became the seventh. By the end of it all, Frances and Ace had found themselves going steady, and after nine months were still going strong.

**Step 4 – Changing for the better**

Now that your character and Ace are an item, it's time to start making him a nice, sweet, and romantic person, or at the very least, a semi-decent individual. After all, anyone who had seen the movie can clearly tell Ace would make primo boyfriend material, you know, if it wasn't for those nasty little flaws...

Frances and Ace were the most well-known couple in Castle Rock. Ace would take her along to play mailbox baseball or go drinking at the local bar. He also had Eyeball give her her own Cobra tattoo and teach her how to boost cars.

Frances, in turn, slowly help Ace become a better person; it all started one day when Ace broke down in front of her and told her everything about his tortured past. About how his father, Junior Merrill, was a heavy drinker and would always verbally cut down both himself and his mother. And sometimes hit her. And that cause Ace, who use to go by John, to harden up, create a bad boy reputation for himself, and become the most badass guy this town had ever seen.

One day at the movies, Ace had went to get themselves popcorn and some sodas when on his way back, a guy had accidently bumped into him, knocking everything on Ace.

"Whoa, hey man, I'm sorry about that. Like me help you clean that up." Ace gave him a glare that could peel paint. He roughly grabbed him by the collar, tightened his fist, and was about to hurl it straight into the other man's face, when Frances shook her head.

"No Ace."

Ace then lowered his arm, and nodded sadly, "You're right. Fighting is wrong on all levels and I'm glad you have shown me the way, Babe. From now on I shall use words, instead of violence to solve my problems, because that is what truly makes a man."

**Step 5 – Interactions with the other Cobras**

Since your character is dating Ace Merrill, don't forget to showcase her interactions with the other members of the Cobras, to show that she's just like one of the gang. I mean, it's not as though she could ever possibly have friends of her own to hang out with, or even that there are actually other people in Castle Rock for her to do anything with. No, she has to stay with the gang at all times.

"Aw, God! Seriously, you guys? This chick is still hanging around with us?" Complained Billy Tessio, "You guys don't see me bringing Connie every where I go."

"Quit complaining Billy, you don't want Ace to hear you, do you?" Charlie Hogan said nervously, looking around for any signs of their leader.

"But it's just… since when do we let _broads_ become Cobras? This doesn't make any sense." Billy groaned, running his hands through his greasy hair.

"We don't, but Frances is the exception, and we gotta suck it up and accept it." Eyeball Chambers drawled, a bored expression fixed on his face.

"I guess." Billy looked down in defeat.

"Hey you. Yeah, you, what are you doing?" Vince Desjardin called out the Frances, who was dusting off an old car.

"Oh just doing some tidying." She simply replied. "Just because this place is a junkyard, doesn't mean it has to look like a dump."

"Doesn't have to lo—it _is_ a dump!" exclaimed Fuzzy Brackowicz in anger at this girl's naiveté.

"There's nothing to matter here boys, is there?" Ace Merrill said as he entered the junkyard, Frances running up to him to kiss the corner of his mouth.

"No Ace, nothing at all." Billy said, quickly not wanting to anger him.

"Good." Ace nodded before turning to Frances, "And how about you Babe?"

"Fine, but I think I need to go back to Eyeball's place since I think I left something over there."

"Of course, hey Eyeball, you don't mind giving my girl a lift back to your place, do you?"

"Course not Ace." Eyeball replied, getting off of the hood of a car he was sitting on, "I mean, it's not like I have a life or anything. Consider me your own personal limo-driver." He said sarcastically as he went over to his car and fish through his pockets for his keys.

"We'll be back." Frances said as she made her way over to Eyeball's car.

**Step 6 – Interactions with the boys**

Don't forget to have the boys make at least one appearance in your fic. Other authors might see this step as optional since quite a few Ace/OC fics tend to leave the boys out, but for this one, we will be including them. Or you can just have Chris be the only one to make an appearance since, half the time, it feels like Chris is the only one of the boys who exists in Ace/OC Romances.

Frances and Eyeball were at the Chambers residents. Frances had found what she was looking for, and both were about to leave, when suddenly the front door open and four twelve year old boys walked in.

"Hi guys." Vern Tessio greeted them.

"What the fuck are you all doing here?" Eyeball inquired.

Chris Chambers just rolled his eyes. "I don't know Eyeball, because I live here and this is my house too."

"That," Teddy Duchamp started before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a large piece of paper, "and it's in our contracts that we have to make at least one appearance in all Ace/OC, Eyeball/OC, or Cobra centered fics."

"Oh yeah." Eyeball nodded.

"Frankie!" Vern exclaimed as he ran over to her, giving her a big hug. Frances just patted his back awkwardly.

"Uh… why are you hugging me?" She asked him.

"Because, despite that fact you're dating that asshole Ace Merrill and hang out with our sworn enemies the Cobras, we're friends." Gordie Lachance simply explained.

"Oh yeah." Frances nodded.

"You know," Chris said as he looked her up and down, "You seem like a nice girl. I mean, I guess I should probably warn you to stay away from Ace or something, but I got a feeling you'll just ignore it and just keep seeing him anyway."

"Yeah, I'm sure the author will come up with some kind of contrived reason for me to keep seeing him, but at the same time, try to plant a seed of doubt into my mind." She shrugged. Frances took a better look at him and a small smile tugged at her lips. "You know Chris, you're cute. Like, real cute. You know, if you were a few years older or I was a few years younger…."

Chris just chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry, but I'm actually seeing someone."

"Oh you are? Oooh, who's the lucky gal?"

"Actually, it's more like who's the lucky guy." Chris said as Gordie walked over to him. Chris just looked over at him and smiled, wrapped an arm around the other boy's shoulder, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Afterwards, they walked off hand-in-hand, Teddy and Vern following them, out the door. And we're never seen or mention again.

**Step 7 – The Drama**

At some point or another while writing your story, you must have furrowed your brow thinking "This story is lacking conflict" and you are correct. I mean, unless you are going for fluff, your readers will get bored if there isn't some kind of conflict in your story. And since Ace is a hood, _something_ wrong is bound to happen. Maybe your character has parents who simply do not approve of her relationship with him. Or maybe Ace's personality ends up rubbing her the wrong way. Or maybe one of the other Cobras also has feeling for your character, creating a love triangle. Or maybe Ace has an ex-girlfriend who simply refuses to move on.

The choice is yours!

Ace was at the local flower shop in Castle Rock, wanting to buy a bouquet for Frances when he bumped into a familiar face.

"Anna?" The girl turned around and her face light up in surprise.

"Ace? Oh my god, Ace it's so great to see!" Anna squealed as she wrapped Ace up in a big hug. "Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever. How you been?"

"I've been doing fine. Just wanted to get some flowers for a new girlfriend—Shit, didn't mean it like that."

"No no, it's okay." Anna quickly dismissed it. "I'm actually happy you found someone. I just hope I can find someone when I go the Harvard."

"No fucking way, you're going to Harvard?" Ace asked her, the two moving some place to find a place to sit.

"Yeah, just got accepted a couple of months ago." She beamed brightly.

"Now how did a gal like you ever waste her time with a guy like me?" Ace asked jokingly. Anna playfully shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to bask in the drama, romance, glory and dark shadow of a bad boy outlaw." She sighed as she looked up at the clouds. "Well, it was nice seeing you again Ace. We should go out for a coffee next time to catch up?"

"We should, nice seeing you." He agreed, then wrapped her around in a hug, which he returned.

When they broke apart, they found Frances staring at them.

"Ace… how could you…?" Frances gasped.

"Babe, it's not what it looks like!" Ace tried to explain.

"How could you?"

"I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding here, you see—" Anna tried to explain, only for Frances to cut her off.

"Shut up whore! Ace, I can't believe you did this to me? I know everybody kept telling me that I should have broken up with you. That you weren't good for me. Sure, you're the leader of a gang of hoods. Sure, you cause property damage by playing mailbox. Sure, you smoke a lot and drink. Sure, you pick on little kids and then later tried to murder one of them. But I've always believed you. I… I just… I can't be near you right now!" Frances cried as she ran away, tears flowing on her face like a river.

"Babe! Frances wait!"

**Step 8 – Ummmm…..**

Yes believe or not, very few Ace/OC Romances have actual endings. Most either never end or don't last long after the first couple of chapters. It could because the story is still ongoing, as though it was never meant to end, or the author simply lost interest/motivation for the story.

However, if you wish to write an Ace/OC anyway, try to stretch it out to at least twenty to twenty-five chapters, have the characters go through a friendship period, throw in a couple of dramatic scenes, a few revelations, and of course the quintessential "comforting scene" that will either lead to a cheesy kiss or mind-blowing sex.

**Thank you for reading and good luck with your future Ace/OC Romance. **


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